Reaper
by King and Commoner
Summary: In recent years, a series of altered humans known as Hollows have begun to spring up throughout the world. In order to combat this new threat, the UN has created an elite task force known only as Reaper. Armed with the most advanced weaponry known to man Reaper's mission is to stop the Hollow threat once and for all. AU. May eventually become M. Co-Written with KingofShadowedOnes.
1. Chapter 1

**KaC: Hello Everyone. This is a story that me and my friend KingofShadowedOnes have written together. The idea for this story came up when we were discussing(I.E. I was ranting) on what type of story actually classifies as alternate universe. The result is Reaper. I hope you all enjoy. Anything to add King?**

**King: Be ready for a wild and bumpy ride.**

**Disclaimer: Neither of us own Bleach. **

* * *

A small woman with short black hair balanced on a telephone outside of a small city. Her eyes scanned the streets searching for her targets. She felt a ripple through the air and two butterflies broke free from the darkness and landed on her black hair. Her lavender eyes hardened and spoke in a rich alto voice, "Me and My big mouth. Two of them, one smaller than the other… Time to hunt."

Across town at the airport two men with hooded sweatshirts blended with the crowd leaving a small plane. The only other passenger of any note was a tall boy with orange hair following behind the group. He paused for a moment to adjust his large backpack.

* * *

"GOOOOOOD MOOOOORNING ICHIGOOOOO…" the tall youth quickly rolled out of bed and grabbed the leg flying for his head. He pivoted and spun his attacker away from him and out of his open window. Only then did the youth open his amber eyes and take in the room. It had been too long; he smiled and stretched his back. America had been… interesting but Nippon was home.

He walked downstairs freshly showered and grumbling about his new uniform. 'One thing I definitely didn't miss.' His younger twin sisters were already in the kitchen when he walked in. Yuzu, his blonde haired sister who took after his mother, was cooking and humming to herself with a smile on her face. Karin, the black haired tomboy, flipped through a book. He glanced at the cover and smiled, Shakespeare. Yuzu smiled as she turned around and placed a large plate of toast on the table. The youth happily took a piece of toast and glanced at his watch when the front door burst open to reveal his father. The large Doctor panted and looked crazily at his son.

"ICHIGOOOOO! There is nothing left for me to teach you my son…" at this point tears were flowing down his father's face. Ichigo threw his bag over his shoulder and walked out into the morning sun.

It had been a year since he left and no one knew he was back. He glanced to his left at the river winding past him. He smiled at the green hill along the bank that he used to play on. He sighed and made his way to his senior year of high school. The orange hair he inherited from his mother seemed to glow in the sunlight bright enough for him to see it in the river below. No one in America cared about his hair, but here people took one look at it and assumed he was a delinquent. As he approached the school grounds he saw a group of people waiting outside the entrance. Ichigo smiled when he saw Chad towering over the others. The large Mexican caught sight of his friend and the others turned to look. Orihime broke out from the group and ran towards Ichigo.

"Kurosaki-kun, when did you get back to Japan? You've been gone for so long, how was America?" Her voice was a little ditzy, but also very friendly. Her red-brown hair was long and shiny, and her figure was what some men called holy. Despite what many people thought, she was very intelligent, if a little out there.

"It was great, Inoue-san. Oi Chad-o," Ichigo bumped forearms with his giant of a friend, and greeted the rest of the group. A bell rang inside the building and the group headed into class. Just before going inside something flashed behind Ichigo. He quickly turned towards it but only saw the empty courtyard. With a shrug, Ichigo dismissed the sight and returned to class.

The classes here weren't very different from the ones back in America. At least he didn't have to change rooms every class anymore, he had never gotten used to that. He kept an eye on the teacher to track the important parts of the lecture until the lunch bell rang. It should have been a perfectly normal day, but it felt off, as if a strange pressure had filled the air the entire time. He wrote it off as boredom and exhaustion and continued home. As he rounded the corner a group of thugs attacked him, as usual. After disposing of them in the alley, he finally made it home. He ducked under his father's usual greeting and walked up to his room. He collapsed into his bed and stared out the window. "Hopefully tomorrow will be more interesting…"

* * *

"In local news, various small explosions occurred throughout Karakura. At this point we have no confirmation as to the cause but there was little damage and no casualties."

Ichigo spared a glance at the television before walking out the door. Those explosions weren't very far away.

After school, Ichigo decided to visit the shopping district. He was just walking out of a candy store when he saw a girl running down the street. She was small and had brown hair. But her attacker was massive. He wore a bone white mask with purple markings and had solid green eyes. Instead of hands, two long sickle blades extended form the creature's arms, almost to the ground. Ichigo's eyes widened when he saw the creature leap at the girl and land with an explosive crash. The quickly grabbed the girl and pulled her with him, away from the creature. They had managed to get a decent lead on the monster when the girl tripped. Ichigo slid to a stop and threw himself between the creature and the girl. The masked being raised its sickle arm and prepared to strike Ichigo. The teenager shut his eyes and waited for the attack when he heard the sound of scraping metal. Ichigo opened his eyes and saw a black haired girl defending him from the monster. She struggled under the blade before pushing the creature away. She dropped her hands to her side and Ichigo.

'Who is this girl? Is that a gun?'

The woman's short black hair flowed lightly in the wind as she charged the asked creature. She slipped past the first two strikes with and vaulted over a third before shooting the monster twice. The girl flipped backwards over another strike and Ichigo looked straight into her amethyst eyes. She landed on one knee and her gun went off for the third time hitting the creature between its eyes. The creature gave a pitiful wail as it disintegrated into nothing. The gun disappeared into the woman's black robe and she walked away from the monster's ashes. Ichigo made sure safely made it to the authorities before going home, but was confused at the girl's description of a man with a knife chasing her. He thought it best to let her and the authorities think that.

* * *

It was well past dusk when he made it back home, and he prayed he would be able to avoid interesting days from then on. As he stepped through the door, he quickly threw his foot up and stopped his father's incoming assault. Ichigo decided to skip dinner and head ups to his room early. He tried to focus on his school work but he kept hearing the cries of the monster from earlier. He forced himself to ignore it head and focused on the work. As he was working he began to hear the creature's cries once again, but this time he realized they weren't in his head. Soon he finished and moved to lie down in his bed to chill for a while, maybe start through _Much Ado About Nothing; _he had never finished that one.

He jumped out of his bed when he saw the woman form earlier jump through his window. For the first time he realized how short she was; she couldn't have been more than 5'2. Her expression was cold but he still saw a large amount of kindness in her features. She couldn't be much older than he was, if she was older at all. Her eyes though, they held a level of seriousness that no one as young as her should possess. He sat their silently in awe of self-confidence and control that he couldn't find in most girls he knew. Then he remembered that this was his room.

"Oi!" the woman seemed to be ignoring him at the moment, "Oi, Woman…"

"It's close," she was ignoring him, fed up with her attitude, Ichigo launched himself feet first at the woman, knocking her off balance and sending her head over heels into the ground. Her look quickly became confused as she blinked repeatedly at the large man she recognized from the earlier incident. –Ichigo could almost see an hourglass spinning over her head. She suddenly popped up and grabbed Ichigo by his chin, bringing it down to her level so she could look him in the eye.

"You can see me?" Her voice was a high alto but it still carried the weight of authority. It was far more pleasant than the woman's attitude. Ichigo smacked her hand away as she tried to move his head back and forth.

"Of course I can you crazy woman, what are you doing in my room anyway," Ichigo again heard a cry from outside it was much closer this time. He looked out the window trying to make it look casual.

"I'm hunting the partner of the Hollow from earlier…" the short woman kept her eye on the man. She slightly shifter her right hand and an almost imperceptible grey mass began to form in her palm.

"That still doesn't explain why you're in my room, midget." Ichigo saw the small woman flinch slightly and an almost demonic grin could be seen on her face.

"You dare… BAKUDO #1 Sai." The small woman made a motion with her right hand and Ichigo's hands were forced behind his back with enough force to send him face first into the ground. He heard the shuffling of papers and what felt like permanent markers. Looking up he saw her sitting in perfect Seiza and flipping a book open. The page was split in half. One half was decorated with pink and yellow flowers and a bunny; the word plus was written on the page. The other half was black with lightning bolts and what looked like a bear trying to make an angry face. The art work was… horrible…

"So to inform you of what's going on there is a drug that shifts people from what we call pluses," she pointed to the bunny, "to Hollows. In order to combat these hollows, the UN created the Reapers, a special task force of exceptional soldiers," she flipped the page showing the bunny and bear again. This time one side had Cut the other said Konsu. "We are supposed to expel the drugs from those who we can before the turn with a method we call Konsu, or if we're too late, use out Zanpakuto to purify them. Any questions?"

"Why do your drawings suck so much?" She threw the book at Ichigo while yelling that her drawings were perfect and he couldn't understand because his orange hair must be affecting his brain… Ichigo had the strangest sense that this wouldn't be the last time this happened, but that couldn't be right.

"I lost the damn thing though…" the reaper looked down at a device in her palm. At the same time a cry rang out in the city. It had grown ridiculously close to his house.

"Can't you hear it though, the cry of the thing it's so loud." For the second time that night the short woman's eyes went large at Ichigo. Another cry came in and this time she heard it loud and clear. _How have I missed that… its displacement is huge._ The short woman looked back at the orange haired youth on the ground. _What is he that he can displace over THAT…? _An explosion rocked the house sending the woman off balance. The screams of a girl filled the air.

"YUZU!" Ichigo yelled and forced himself up to his feet, the woman again looked Ichigo up and down. _No unaltered person should be able to stand under a Bakudo. _But he was up and moving, he forced himself into the hall and knelt next to a blonde girl collapsed on the floor. She whispered something and the boy began to force his arms apart.

"You can't break the binding you idiot…" the rest of whatever the woman was going to say died in her throat as she saw him overload the bakudo, forcing the binding apart and overloading it, something no mortal should be able to do. The last of the binding overheated and collapsed as he started to run down stairs, the woman followed him to find a much larger Hollow.

"KARIN," Ichigo charged the beast that held a young girl in its hand. He grabbed a crutch and he ran at the hollow. The beast turned to him and smiled a deep sickening voice filling the air.

"There you are," the creature threw the girl at the boy. The orange haired youth grabbed the girl out of the air and the short reaper sprang into action. She shot the arm of the beast causing it to scream in pain but doing no real damage. The creature took the opportunity to bite down on her, and she screamed. It let go and backed off as Ichigo approached her.

"I'm so sorry…"

"Do you want to save your family?" Ichigo's head shot up to the small woman, she held a badge in her hand, seeming to offer it to him.

"There's a way, Reaper?" Ichigo licked his lips lightly what was this woman, breathing heavy, blood seeping out of her shoulder, was offering him…

"It's not reaper, Kid, its Kuchiki Rukia, and there is if you want to take it," she held her gun towards Ichigo barrel first.

"It's not kid, Reaper, its Kurosaki Ichigo," Ichigo grabbed the barrel of the gun. The woman smiled at him as the same grey substance from before seeped form her wounds and into her Zanpakuto.

"Then take my gun, Reaper Kurosaki," and she pulled the trigger letting him fall back with the gun. A huge displacement sprang from Ichigo, it was almost suffocating. She looked own and her black robe had been replaced by a pure white one. She had only meant to give him half of her power, but even if she had given him everything, it shouldn't be this overwhelming. The smoke started to clear, and Ichigo stood there holding a massive sword in place of the gun. His outfit was replaced with a black jacket and leather pants. His sharp amber eyes locked onto the Hollow who was pushed back by the sheer force of his displacement.

"You are going to regret hurting my family."


	2. Strike 2: What's Done

**King and Commoner: Hello everyone, and welcome to the second chapter of Reaper. *Ominous Music Plays***

**KingofShadowedOnes: -Walks in and flips on the lights- What are you doing?**

**KaC: Shhh… I'm trying to set the mood for the chapter.**

**King:-Flips the lights back off- Welcome dear readers to the second chapter of Reaper.**

**KaC: Bum Bum Buuuummm.**

**King: So three things before we start:**

**1. Bump up Ichigo and crew 2 years, making them seniors(3-year high schools, those kooky Japanese)**

**KaC: A. If you want to send us cookies our addresses are…**

**King:-Smacks the back of his head- No giving out addresses, what if Woody found this?**

**KaC: If Woody knew where we lived he'd've launched missiles at us months ago.**

**King: Hence no addresses.**

**KaC: …fine**

**King: 2. We love reviews, PMs hell we even love the constructive flame so long as its a serious push to help, a magic box down at the bottom of the screen will take care of making sure we have access to those thoughts you have.**

**KaC: B. If you intend to ennact any act of revenge as a result of something we've written here, be aware that we have the ability to summon meteors with our minds.**

**King: 3. Enjoy the ride**

**KaC: C. We at KING Stories Inc. do not own bleach or any works referenced in this story. We do however, own the entirety of the internet.**

**King: …When did we make that investment?**

**KaC: You were drunk, but I got this email from a Nigerian Prince…**

**King: ... You used your banking information on that one right? You know what why don't you guys read this chapter while we get KingandCommoner figured back out ...**

**KaC: But…but, he said it would be mine.**

* * *

Previously:

_The smoke started to clear, and Ichigo stood there holding a massive sword in place of the gun. His outfit was replaced with a black jacket and leather pants. His sharp amber eyes locked onto the Hollow who was pushed back by the sheer force of his displacement._

"_You are going to regret hurting my family." _

* * *

And Now:

_"What's done cannot be undone" __Macbeth Act 5 Scene 1_

Rukia was drifting dangerously close to unconsciousness, but she forced herself to watch this…_boy_ run towards the Hollow. He was fast, faster than a prototype should be. He was either using shunpo, something that took months to learn normally, or he had an unnaturally high muscular synchronization. She had never encountered a human before him capable of piercing the shroud, or an unaltered who could break a binding kido, or a new Zanpakuto capable of dealing so much damage to a Hollow. Rukia clenched her fist and refocused on the fight.

Ichigo dodged around the large hollow, avoiding a strike from its massive fist. He swung his massive sword as if it weighed nothing at all, slicing into the beast's leg. The hollow screamed in pain, but Ichigo didn't stop. He spun on his heel and drove his sword through the hollow's back. The monster wheezed out in pain and struggled to pull itself off the blade. Ichigo glared at the beast. He placed his foot on the creature's back and shoved it off his sword. With a flick of his wrist the blood flew off his sword and the blade dissolved into mist. Ichigo looked at the defeated hollow before turning and walking towards Rukia. He had only made it a few steps when he collapsed, falling unconscious.

Rukia collected herself and tore a piece of cloth off of her shirt to bandage her wound. As it was, it would take weeks to regain what she had given Ichigo. She glanced at the destroyed building and got to work. Unfortunately the damage fell into a weird vacancy in normal procedures. The hollow had done too much damage to be easily written off by the general population, but too little to justify one of the standard excuses or call in a fast repair team.

Rukia wanted nothing more than to sleep, but there was still a lot of work to do, and only a few hours until daylight.

* * *

Across town a thin man in a blue suit stared up at an apartment building. Inside a young woman with strawberry blonde hair was doing dishes. He smiled and placed a small box inside of mailbox 15. As he walked away, he shifted a hat down to cover his eyes. 'I'll see you soon sister.'

As he rounded the corner, two men came up behind him and grabbed his arms. "Hey there, Sora. How've you been doing?"

"Mr. Moreno, Mr. Soto, w-what are you doing here?"

"Mr. Rios would like to have a word with you. He'd like to reestablish the terms of your contract."

Sora's face grew pale at that name, and his struggles increased. But the two men were far too strong for him to resist. The dragged him to a dark van and threw him inside. The van pulled away.

* * *

-Next Day-

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*

Ichigo reached over and slammed his alarm clock. He lay there for a moment, blinking in confusion. That had been the most vivid dream he'd had since he was a kid. He rolled out of bed and grabbed his things for school. '_That's the last time I agree to try Orihime's lunch._'

He shut the door behind him, never noticing that his alarm clock was little more than a pile of rubble.

"Hey, old man! Where's the wakeup call?!"

Ichigo saw his father in the kitchen preparing breakfast. "Sorry Ichigo, but I don't have time to talk right now. After that truck hit the house last night I have to cancel a few appointments and make sure that the workers get to the right address. I can't afford to stay idle. I'm surprised you slept through it; Karin and Yuzu are all shook up about it. I think I'm going to keep them home from school for today. I'm just glad that no one got hurt. You can stay too if you want, but it's only your second day back and there won't be much to do here, so you might want to go anyway."

"Wait, a truck hit the house?"

"Didn't you see the whole in the wall? It's right behind you."

Ichigo turned around and stared at wall behind him. A hole was at least ten feet high and twice as wide. '_Isn't that where the monster in my dream…No, it couldn't be._'

"I can't believe I missed that."

Ichigo turned around to find his father standing there with a pen light. Isshin shined it into Ichigo's eyes and look closely at his pupils. "What day is it? When's your birthday? List the 48 contiguous states in reverse alphabetical order. Who framed Rog-" Ichigo kicked his father in the face and walked into the kitchen.

"I don't have a concussion, old man. I'm just readjusting to Japan, and it was Judge Doom. Spoiler alert." Ichigo walked out the door and slammed it shut.

"You're supposed to say that before the spoiler!"

* * *

'_Why didn't I stay home like the old man asked?_'

Ichigo wandered into his first class, Western Lit., and sat down. He tried to listen to Keigo's rambling, but after a few minutes he gave up and pulled out his book for course, _Taming of the Shrew_. He had just opened it up and started to read when the teacher walked in.

"Everyone, everyone, I'd like to welcome a new student to the class. Please pay attention while she introduces herself."

Keigo leaned over and elbowed Ichigo. "Ohoho, it looks like there's gonna be a new hotty in the class! I hereby call dibs if she's any higher than a six."

Ichigo reached over and knocked his friend onto the floor. He turned to the front of the room and had to choke back a shout. '_Okay, that's just weird. Oh well, it's not like her name's-_'

"I'm Kuchiki Rukia. It's a pleasure to meet you all."

Ichigo stared at the new girl as she walked down the aisle towards him. She greeted everyone along the way and came up to him. She held out her hand and smiled.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you." Ichigo nodded at the girl and went to shake her hand. Before he grabbed it he saw that there was something written on her palm.

-_Tell anyone what happened last night and I will skin you and drop you into a barrel of salt. Which I will then set on fire. And then I will freeze the ashes into a sculpture of Chappy._-

Ichigo flinched back and glanced at the girl's face. Her smile hadn't changed but it appeared far more sinister than it had before. He had a sudden flash of her, striding a giant bunny statue and laughing. He slowly forced his expression back to neutral and shook the girl's hand.

'…_Okay. So I wasn't dreaming.'_


	3. Strike 3: Who Dares Do More

**KaC: Hello everyone and welcome to the next installment of **_**REAPER!**_

**King:** **Sorry it's taken us a while on this one, I've changed my direction in life recently and have stsrted Culinary School.**

**KaC: And boy, are his arms tired**

**King: You have no idea, but again this is the next chapter of Reaper: SO far we've had an angry little Reaper, Learned why we don't piss off Ichigo, met some interesting people and... -Leans over slightly- What am I missing?**

**KaC: frozen ash bunny**

**King: That's Right. And Leaned that Rukia is a very scary girl with a bunny fetish**

**KaC: ...I don't want to be in your head right now**

**King: -Zones out- Bunnies...**

**KaC: And on that note, if anyone wants one of these spare cupcakes, review.**

**King: Please do!**

* * *

Strike 3: Who dares do more.

"I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more is none"  
Macbeth

The small shinigami dragged Ichigo out of class the moment the lunch bell rang. As they walked up Ichigo heard her muttering about protocol, idiots and not covering this in training. Finally pulling him onto the roof, she let his arm go and looked at him with an arched brow.

"What's wrong midget," She kneed him in the gut and looked down at him as he coughed.

"Shut up Strawberry," Ichigo remained quiet as he stood back up and matched her glare. "First of all, if you tell anybody what happened last night I will take this little toy here-" she held up a device that looked something like a PEZ dispenser crossed with a digital camera "-and wipe out so much of your memory that you'll forget how to go to the bathroom."

Ichigo tried to respond but thought better of it when she glared at him again. He nodded politely and listened. "Second, right now I'm the only shinigami assigned to Karakura. And thanks to your heroics last night I don't have enough charge left to contact HQ. That means that you'll need to cover for me in town until I get strong enough to call in some backup. That means you need a crash course in-"

"Wait one second, midget. What do you mean _'cover for you.'_ If you mean fighting more of those monsters then _you_…_Can. COUNT. __**Me. OUT!**_"

"W-What? Yesterday you-"

"Yesterday my family was in danger. I learned long ago that fighting for total strangers is pointless. If you think that you can get me to stick my neck out for them then you've got another thing coming. I have enough people out for my head already."

Ichigo turned to walk away. Rukia sighed and held up her hand. "I guess I have no choice then." Her hand began to change colors until it was like she was wearing a black glove. The image of a skull covered in flames appeared on its back and she charged towards Ichigo. As he opened the door back into the school she slammed her palm into the back of his head. Ichigo stumbled and turned to yell at Rukia. Then he screamed. Blood dribbled down his skin and an inky black substance exploded from his pores. It stretched out around him before being pulled back and encircling his torso. The substance crawled over his skin and clothes, forming the black jacket and pants that he had been wearing the previous night. Finally, a blood red chain rose out of the jacket, crossing over his right shoulder.

Ichigo lay on the ground shaking. The pain from his wounds the night before had been nothing like what his body was just subjected to. He struggled onto his arms and glared at Rukia. The girl walked over to him and glared at his prone form. "Right now there are approximately 13 hollows within ten miles of Karakura. If I had let your family die last night instead of taking on that hollow at a disadvantage I would be able to slay all of them without a single casualty. Because I didn't die, HQ won't notice that I can't stop them until each of them kills at least half a dozen innocent people. You do the math."

Ichigo struggled to his feet and stood on shaky knees. He tried to stare down the shorter girl but his gaze held no power behind it. "I…won't…fight…yo-your battles."

Rukia bit her cheek to keep from screaming at the boy. She couldn't bully him into this, or he'd resist every step of the way. She had to find a way to convince him that he should help. A beeping noise came from her pocket and she pulled out a device similar to a cell phone. 'Well, that's convenient timing.'

Rukia grabbed Ichigo's collar and dragged him to the edge of the roof. Ichigo tried to struggle, but he still lacked the strength to put up much resistance. When they reached the edge, Rukia jumped off of the roof. "What the fuck are you doing!?" Unfortunately, Ichigo was still strong enough to scream. The raven haired shinigami rolled her eyes as she landed outside the school's fence.

Rukia looked down at the taller boy and hefted him up to look into her eyes. "Right now you aren't strong enough to run away from me. So you can either follow me willingly or I can tie you to the back of a car going in the right direction. Do we have a deal?"

They stopped running when they arrived at a park a few miles away from the school. Ichigo remembered it from his childhood. Before his mother… she used to take him here. He could almost see himself playing in the playground with Tatsuki-chan before running into his mothers waiting arms. Looking back behind him he could see a look on Rukia's face that he had never seen before, it made her look cute… almost. Ichigo heard the scream of a frightened boy. He looked for the voice and saw a small boy running through the playground. Behind him the slide blew up and a large spider like masked creature chased the crying boy. Ichigo moved to save the boy and a weight appeared on his back. Rukia watched as the grey material seeped out of his back and formed into a long brown sheath holding the wide long sword form last night. His readings were off the chart, but Rukia had to sort this out.

"Stop." Ichigo stopped and turned towards the short woman with violet eyes his hand already on the hilt of his sword.

"What!?" Ichigo could hear the boy running towards him the otherworldly sound of the Hollows scream filling the air. The woman looked hard at Ichigo.

"What are you doing? Isn't that child a complete stranger? Why would you go out of your way to help him?"

"I won't let a person be hurt in front of me…"

"Stop being a child." The woman was seething now. "A Reaper doesn't get to pick and choose who to save and who not to, they can't refuse to chase down a Hollow because it is too far away or because it is going after someone they don't know or don't like." With every word the monster got closer to the boy. "If you go and save that boy then you are acting as a Reaper, and that means saving everyone." The boy tripped and fell to the ground face first. He turned over and screamed as the Hollow raised a wickedly sharp leg. Rukia saw Ichigo tense and move. Now that she could think clearly, she saw that it wasn't that he activated Shunpo or had an unusual muscular synchronization, he was honestly just that good. His movements flowed perfectly as he drew his long blade the curved tip clearing the sheath just in time to cleave off one of the pointy legs and with a flick of the wrist the second foreleg went flying.

The creature stumbled and turned to strike with its other leg. Ichigo pivoted and ducked beneath the striking limb. He jumped to his side and struck at the creature's back legs. It began to fall backwards and he jumped. Using its spine as a ramp he reached the creature's masked head and stabbed his sword into its skull. The Hollow let out a ghastly wail and thrashed around. Ichigo held onto his sword's hilt with all his strength as the creature's movements forced his feet from its back. He tried to regain his footing but the Hollow managed to dislodge his sword from its head and send him flying. The monster searched for its attacker. It saw the boy first. The Hollow charged for the weaker target. The boy tried to turn and run but the Hollow was too fast. It lashed out with its remaining forelimb at the child. Just before the claw reached him the boy tripped on a rock, turning the fatal blow into a deep scratch.

The monster pulled its claw back a second time and lunged for the fallen child. The boy curled up on the ground and screamed for help. Before the creature could reach the child a second time, Ichigo's sword flew in and buried itself in the creature's side, throwing it off balance. The creature screamed out and tried to pick itself up off the ground. Its breath grew ragged and heavy and the creature collapsed once again. Ichigo walked over and pulled his sword from the creature's side. He walked up to the wheezing head and drew his sword back once more. He glared at the creature and brought his sword down for the last time, removing its head.

Ichigo looked at the reaper and returned her smirk with a scowl. "Don't think this means I play by your rules." He failed to suppress a smirk when he saw the girl's face drop. "I didn't save him because of your code or this power. I saved him because that's the kind of person I am. Because I wanted to."

"You're-"

"Not done yet. When you saved my family you made a choice. You could have done your duty and killed the Hollow or failed and still save my family. That is my choice. I am going to stop these things to protect _my_ hometown. I couldn't give two shits about your duties or your war. You can take it or leave it. Good enough for you, Reaper?"

"Close enough, Rookie." Rukia collected herself and approached the boy; he was right enough in his own way. The girl walked over and checked on the boy who was cut. "In that case, here's your first lesson. Right now this boy has been infected by the Hollow Drug. The exact details would take too long, but for now, place the hilt of your weapon on his head. The rest will take care of itself."

Ichigo complied and tapped the hilt of his sword on the child's head, slightly violently. As he lifted away the blade, the boy's forehead began to glow and the child fainted.

"That technique is called konsou. It is one of the most important duties of a Reaper. Right now the nanites you injected into the plus are purging the Hollow Drug from the child's body and his memories of the events are being altered to more believable occurrences, and our part in the events removed."

"I suppose that's - Nanites!?"

* * *

Ichigo and Rukia sat down on the roof of his house. It wasn't much for privacy, but at least they wouldn't be interrupted. Ichigo Shuddered as the small reaper pulled out her flipbook again. "Okay, Ichigo. I suppose that I should explain the idea of reapers a bit more thoroughly." She flipped it open to show a picture of the UN Flag and a weird blobbish shape that could have been a country with angry eyes drawn on it. "When the UN was created after World War 2, they discovered that the Germans had been experimenting on creating living weapons." Flipping the page again she showed a picture of a man in a long white coat injecting a needle into a bunny's arm, a pair of arrow split from there one pointing upwards with "Expectation" written along the gradient had a comical rabbit with huge muscles the down arrow had "Reality" and a Large hulking white Bear with a Hollow mask. "The idea was to aggravate the adrenal and pituitary glands in order to supercharge a person's muscular structure and increase stamina. But the experiments, from a scientific standpoint, failed. The subjects mutated and became disfigured horrifying monsters. An initiative was created to contain and destroy these creatures. But it was too late. A scientist by the name of Baraggan Louisenbairn took as many samples and subjects as he could and fled from Germany. We still aren't sure where he has gone." And of course a silhouette of the world with a giant question mark on it.

"As Hollow attacks became more common, the UN founded Soul Society. A scientific and military collaborative designed to combat the Hollows." Flipping the book over, she used the other side and showed Ichigo a picture of Chappies in different black outfits warding off the Bear Hollows. "They created the Reapers, human beings granted preternatural abilities due to the injection of nanoscopic computers, or nanites. As a result of an Adapting Intelligence Program, each shinigami gains unique abilities they can channel through their zanpakuto, such as your sword or my guns. With proper training your zanpakuto will evolve with you and create a personalized style of fighting."

"…Okay. I can handle that much. I think. But it's been over a hundred years since World War 2, how has this been going on for so long? And what about when you trapped my hands behind my back? You didn't use your guns then."

Rukia pinched her nose and sighed. There were supposed to be specialized instructors for new recruits. She hadn't taken these courses for years. "I'll start with the easy one. One of the weapons developed to combat Hollows were Kido techniques. What I cast at you was a bakudo, or restraining technique, designed to restrict a target's arms behind their back and immobilize them. Most shinigami use these-"Rukia pulled out a small capsule, the size and shape of a marble and held it out to him "-which contain specially programmed nanites designed for single use attack and restraint techniques. That one contains Hado #31: Shakkaho, an attack spell designed to unleash a ball of red fire at your opponent. With enough practice, a Reaper can absorb a Kido Capsule and teach their own nanites to replicate the effects. Unfortunately, I do not have enough of these to let you do that. It would be best if you leave these with me in case of an emergency."

"That was the easy one?"

"Yes. That part makes sense. The fact of the matter is, that we have no idea where the Hollow base is located. Due to the frequency of Hollow attacks, we assume it is somewhere in Japan. But for the last ten years, we haven't found anything. We have come to the conclusion that they are being sent here as a proving ground, but we cannot leave the country as it is. As such, Seireitei's main base of operations will remain in Japan for the foreseeable future."

"So what, I'm supposed to join this Seireitei organization now?"

"No!" Rukia's eyes were wide and her breathing had grown heavy instantly. "When I gave my powers to you without authorization, I broke several restrictions placed on all Reapers. Chances are I will be removed from duty and you would be allowed to leave, but they would remove the nanites from your body and there is a chance that you would die. If you don't die well, you'll have the mental capability of a three year old."

"Bet I'd still draw better than you though."

Rukia's notebook hit him straight on the nose and knocked him off the roof.

* * *

Just a few miles, away Inoue Orihime was getting ready to make snacks for her friends.

"Let's see here, how about pumpkin, wasabi, and cheese curd cupcakes?! And for the frosting, I have watermelon and caramel! Ichigo will love this!"

As she turned away from the window, a tall man stepped out of the shadows. Despite the warmth of the night, he wore a heavy trench coat. He stared at the girl cooking in the window and a single tear rolled down his ghostly face.

The man turned and slammed his fist into a nearby wall, cracking the bricks. A ghastly wail rose up through the night.


End file.
